A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay between chapters. I'm trying to finish off an old story ("Who Says You Can't Go Home," a CSI/CSI:NY crossover) while working on this story and "Sleeping at the Wheel" while dealing with normal life stuff. But I realize that I really left this story at a horrible point of a cliffhanger, and for that, I wholeheartedly apologize. See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you enjoy this one, and please review. :)
Chapter Seven
The gunshots that rang out died down to the screams of the patients and other patrons of the ER that were terrified by their visit. Many of whom were going to need a lot more than the care they had originally come in for. Between the sounds of the guns, the bullets flying through the curtains, and the innocent people who got caught in the middle, the psychiatry and psychology staffs at St. Victor's were going to have a lot of work to do.
Not to mention the ER staff.
Bullets flying everywhere had led to more casualties, and while none of the assembled officers had wanted to start shooting in a hospital, their hand was forced when Los Lordes fired first. They knew the only way this would end would be if the Lordes went down.
Unfortunately, some of the officers went down, too.
Linda had come out of the room as she had heard shouts of "clear" and "all clear" ring through the ER. Through the chaos of the aftermath, she managed to find Danny and Baez standing over two members of the Lordes who were bleeding on the floor. Around the corner, Flack was over another member who was clearly not going to make it, having taken a bullet to the head. But who she couldn't seem to find anywhere was her brother-in-law.
"Jamie?" she called out softly.
Danny recognized Linda's voice, and turned to face her. "Linda," he started.
"Danny, where's Jamie?"
Danny looked around the ER, quickly scanning all the faces as the Lordes were cuffed prior to getting treatment. "Jamie?" he called out.
Danny's shout caught Baez's attention, and she moved away from them to another spot in the ER. "Jamie?" she said as she, too, began the search.
Flack holstered his gun as he glanced to his left, looking at the last place he'd seen his partner. Jamie, however, was no longer there. Flack looked down the hallway to his right, toward the testing rooms of the ER. He opted to head that way to find Jamie, figuring that everyone else had the main part of the ER covered.
As he walked down the hall, he heard what sounded like two people fighting. He pulled his gun back out of its holster, on the off chance that something were to go wrong. As he got to the corner, he slowly poked his head around it to find Jamie trying to take down a member who had clearly run from the melee in the main area. Jamie slammed the kid into the wall, taking him down to the floor finally. Flack gathered from the looks of things that the scuffle had gone on for some time.
"I see you have things under control," Flack said, putting his gun away again.
Jamie looked up, blood coming down his face from a cut above his eyebrow. "Yeah, think so," he replied. "You all good there?"
"Yeah, we're clear out there."
Jamie stood up, yanking the kid up on his feet. "That's not what I meant."
Flack furrowed his brow curiously.
"You're bleeding, Don," Jamie said, gesturing at his partner's shirt.
Flack looked down. "Huh. You know, you are too."
"Good thing we're already in a hospital, huh?" Jamie walked the kid down the hallway toward the main area as Flack followed.
"Don't ever do that to me again, Kid," Danny warned his younger brother as he and Flack returned to the makeshift triage amidst the center of the ER.
"What, go chasin' the one that's runnin'?" Jamie replied. "Isn't that part of my job?"
"You disappeared."
"So did he. I did what I had to do." Jamie passed the kid off to one of the uniforms on scene. "Take him back to the precinct."
"You got it, Detective," the officer said, taking the kid away.
"Jamie, come over here," Linda said. "We gotta look at you."
"I'm fine," Jamie replied. "It's Flack that needs the help."
Flack glanced down at his shirt again. "I'm not sure it's mine," he said.
"Both of you, get over here," Linda said. "And if you try to leave, I will get you."
Flack and Jamie looked at each other.
"You sure you're alright?"
Flack groaned slightly as he shifted behind his computer. "Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," he replied, rolling his eyes slightly.
Jamie sighed, both annoyed and concerned. "I just mean…"
"Jamie, I'm okay. Doctors swore by it and everything."
Jamie nodded.
"Are you okay?" Flack asked as he looked over at his partner.
"Yeah, fine," Jamie answered softly.
Flack nodded, not buying it for a moment. "Drinks after shift?"
"Sure."
Flack watched Jamie for a moment as the younger man went back to working on the reports required after today's blood-fest. He could tell there was a lot on Jamie's mind, but now wasn't the time to ask too many questions. Now was the time to get work done, so that later, that conversation could occur.
At least this time, there would be a later.
